Drabble Babble
by 2supersmart
Summary: 400 word sasusaku drabbles. 16: fine lines. 'Sometimes, fine lines are meant to be crossed. Most times, it takes a bit of convincing from the least convincing of people.'
1. Heart

Sakura remembered that time in the Hidden Mist. Back when she was still useless, or at least more than she was now. She was considered a respected kunoichi now. Training under the famous copy-nin and the even more famous Godaime had its obvious advantages towards her reputation. There were those that were stronger than her, though. A lot stronger. She was once considered the weakest of the Team 7, and maybe she still was, but this time...this time she wouldn't need their protection because even though she was still weaker than them, she knew her strength was still better than most.

She could go on all day about her and her teammates. Two boys. One blond; his smile as bright as the sun. Then there was the stoic one who wouldn't smile at all. Countless missions, though most of them were D-ranked at the time. They were genin after all. That was – until the endless pleading of her blond teammate scored them a slightly higher ranked mission to Kirigakure – the Hidden Village of the Mist.

It was meant to be easy. No fighting, just escort an old bridge builder to his village. Obviously, it had turned out a little more than that.

Sakura remembered that time when her childhood crush had fallen with needles embedded in him. She was foolish to think he was dead. His heart was beating after all, wasn't it? She had heard it... she was pretty sure she had heard it. Everyone's heart had to beat for them to live. Then again, maybe his heart had stopped beating the moment his brother had slaughtered his kin. Anyways, what good was a heart if you never use it?

That's why, regardless that she had still loved the cold-hearted avenger, she did not cry after their failed attempt to bring him back once again. She did not cry joyous tears when Naruto had finally dragged him back. She didn't cry when she noticed that there was another person that he was carrying along with Sasuke. One clad in a black coat adorned with red clouds. Her eyes remained dry when she saw the hole in her love's chest...a little to the left.

...And after he had killed the man he swore to kill - although his heart was no longer in tact with the rest of him - she knew that it was beating.


	2. Black and White

Many thought of them as completely opposite. That was obviously a lie. They were both ninja and did what they could to get stronger. One a little more obsessed with power than the other, though, but it was a similarity. 

Another similarity? Well, they had both trained under a legendary sannin! Sure, the one he had trained under had tried to destroy the whole village at one point and the one she had trained under was now the **leader** of said village, but so what?

Of course, they had their differences. No one can be the exact same. It would ruin their personality and attitude. Of course, he had more of the latter and almost none of the former, she could deal with that. Heck, she had **drooled** over it along with half the female population when she had been young and naive. To tell the truth, she still did that now...only rarely though. What can you say, old habits die hard.

They had also been on the same team. With the ever-punctual copy nin and 'future Hokage' as the other likes to proclaim. There was another similarity! Another point for the two and and a big goose egg for...'them'. Them being all those nosy people who had too much time on their hands. Heck they were even starting to compare the two of them to things!

They compared her to the colour white and him to the colour black.

They were wrong about that too. She definitely wasn't 'white'. White was pure. White was...white. She was not white. One can not be pure when they live their life as a ninja. Her 'white' hands had been stained red by blood. She was more of a pink, maybe. Like her hair. Maybe not.

He wasn't 'black' either. No one is ever purely 'black', except maybe that snake that had once been his sensei. If any colour would pop into your head when you said his name, it was red. Like his eyes when he's serious. Those eyes that haunted her at night when he was away. Maybe he was red. Maybe not.

Point being, she was definitely not white and he was definitely not black. They were more like grey, actually. Nevermind the red and the pink. Another similarity! In your faces, all you who oppose! Yes, they were definitely a grey.

Even if their shades differed.


	3. Sky

We all have our little secrets. He just had a few too many...that were a bit too secretive. Even so, he would always share them with only one. I know what you're thinking. The avenger has a confidante? Is it a **girl**? 

By definition, a confidante was a female, so to answer your questions, sort of and no. In that order. It wasn't a male either. Heck, it wasn't even human! Not even living! What is this strange thing that the broody male had confided all his secrets in?

The sky.

Yes, the sky. Shouting your frustrations into the heavens usually calms you down, so if it knows all that, why shouldn't it know all your secrets too? So, he shared everything with it. Whispered all his secrets to the sky.

Only the sky knew of his little ticklish spot behind his right ear, that the cut he had gotten from his male teammate that day really **did** hurt, though he was too proud to admit it. It also knew that he had a slight fascination with his other teammate who really wasn't as annoying as he claimed, and that the only reason he didn't groan in pain from the aforementioned cut because he refused to do so in front of her.

Pretty embarrassing right? He would say so. It was a pretty good reason he would whisper things to the sky and not aloud to an actual living thing. The sky couldn't talk back. It couldn't tell him how stupid he had been, or what should've been done. He already knew all those and clearly did not need it weighing down his conscience more than it was already.

He now understood why that lazy guy in the other team loved staring up at the clouds so much - at the sky. It's not like the clouds could tell him to stop staring like people did when you do so to them.

The sun rises and sets, and at night, it was as if those clouds and sun never existed at all, though you knew quite well it'd be there again by the next day. They were replaced by a glowing moon and twinkling stars. If there was one thing that was a constant, it was the sky.

It was dependable. The perfect thing to keep his personal Pandora's box because everything..._everything_...

...was between the sky and him.


	4. Fairy Tales

He never did believe in fairy tales. They were a load of rubbish in his opinion. Princesses and dragons? Pah! What a bunch of nonsense. A distorted way of looking at reality, giving false hopes to those that need them. What kind of – excuse his language – narrow-minded idiot would fall for such stories?

Always looking at the good aspects in life, though he guessed that children probably wouldn't enjoy the truth read to them as bedtime stories.

Though...maybe he wouldn't mind being a knight in shining armor if a certain teammate was the damsel-in-distress.

He himself had believed in fairy tales as a child. Before the genocide - when he believed that his parents would always be there. Forever.

What a joke that was.

There was no such thing as forever. Just as there was no such thing as fairies. Always the pessimist, that Uchiha Sasuke.

She believed in fairy tales. They were read to her every night to her by her parents, so she was raised to believe them. Yes, she was older now. Old enough to realize that elves and pixies obviously didn't exist, but there was nothing stopping her from believing in a happily ever after. Believing in forever.

Of course she knew everything had to die eventually. She was a ninja. She saw those things. However, she also knew that there indeed **was** a forever. A forever-lasting love, as corny as it sounded.

Silly as it may be, she had always used to think of herself as a damsel-in-distress and Sasuke being the knight in shining armor, rescuing her from the evil dragon's clutches. This had; of course, been before she had known any better. Haruno Sakura had always been somewhat of an optimist.

Though both had their beliefs, they were both right in a way.

No, there weren't any mystical creatures and no, there were no knights in shining armor rescuing a helpless damsel-in-distress. Only a ninja clad in his shinobi gear, protecting his teammate because she was – in a way – important to him. No dragons or evil sorcerers; only enemies from outside villages.

And there was nothing romantic at all about the deaths they had witnessed.

She still believes in her happily ever after, and he still believes in his theory, but now he thinks that...

maybe it was true, because once upon a time – there was forever.


	5. Beginnings and Endings

She's always a step ahead of everyone else, or at least she tends to be. She was smart – not as smart as Shikamaru, of course – but that didn't seem to be the reason for her strange ability. Strange ability or not, she could never beat Shikamaru at Shogi. She had to be a bit more than one step ahead to beat the genius at that.

Maybe she had a gift. Clairvoyance? Hardly. Maybe everyone was just too predictable. Or maybe she was just a really great guesser. Being able to see the future would have its strong points though...given her a little more time to make the inevitable disappear.

She had known the night Sasuke was going to leave the village. It wasn't logic that brought her there, it was pure instinct. Her feet had lead her there subconsciously. She liked to think they had a link. An invisible little...thing...that made it possible to know what each other was thinking, though if it were like that at all, he didn't really get her subliminal messages. That, or it was a one-sided thing.

Fact: she hated waiting for things to happen. She liked to go straight to the ending. Probably the reason she didn't like romance books that much. No, nothing like the Icha Icha Paradise books Kakashi read. Her stomach and young mind wouldn't be able to handle those. She still enjoyed reading romance novels from time to time, but they were just so predictable and sometimes the beginnings were just so...pointless, making her skipping a few pages just to get to the climax.

All those non-fiction books that her mentor made her read about medicines and the body were more of her thing. They didn't have a predictable plotline – no plotline at all, actually – and you learned something useful.

In her opinion, beginnings were only there because people liked the feeling of suspense and surprise - not knowing what to expect, or the feeling of being right when suspicions are confirmed. She didn't like surprises, thus being the reason she tries to be ahead of the game at all times. Besides, on missions, surprises can cost you your life. She had learned **that** the hard way.

The thing was, she always liked endings better than beginnings, because when you think about it...

Endings are just the start of a new beginning.


	6. Telephone

They were connected like telephones. Strange comparison, isn't it? Normally, one would compare two people to be tied together with a red string. They weren't exactly normal though. He was the last of his clan besides his traitorous brother, and her? She was a girl that had a forehead that was a tad larger than most. Not to mention the pink hair...that was an eye-catcher. 

Back to the matter at hand, let's think literal, shall we?

She wouldn't say they were linked together with a red string. It would be holding him back and we all know how much he hates something that prevents him from unleashing his full potential. String did have a limited span and was easily cut. Telephones; on the other hand, could span as far as the other side of the earth and how the hell would you cut sound waves? It wasn't holding you back like a thread tied to your finger. Everyone needed their space.

Also, you couldn't talk to each other with a piece of red string. Communication was always something important in her books. He rarely did talk though. Let's face it. Uchiha Sasuke is about as sociable as a rock, but she was working on that. As they say, Rome wasn't built in a day, and it'd **definitely **take a little more than a day to get Sasuke phone savvy. Or talking at all. Okay, maybe **a lot** more than a day.

Enough with the red string vs. telephones thing.

As she was saying – err, thinking. Relationships were just like telephones. Theirs especially. You only give out your phone number to people you trust. She had chosen to give her number to him. Given him permission to enter her life in a subtle yet effective way and he, in turn, returned the favour by opening up to her in at least that little way. It was the least he could do. This was a lot like life really. You choose who you want associate with; who you want to keep in contact with.

The point was, a telephone would be the best way to describe their connection. He wasn't much for talking – or any type of contact at all, actually - and the distances between him and her were always far apart, but whenever he needed any help...

...Uchiha Sasuke couldn't deny that she was on speed dial.


	7. Phobia

Everyone had their fears. Uchiha Sasuke was no exception. Yes, **the** Uchiha Sasuke had a fear. One would think that someone as stoic and cold as Sasuke wouldn't be afraid of anything. He didn't fear heights, or spiders, or the dark like any normal person would. Those were silly things to be afraid of since he was a ninja. He didn't even fear death, though he **did** think it would be a major inconvenience to his future goals of killing his clan's murderer. He would make sure he wouldn't die before his brother did, that was for sure. 

Fear was an emotion after all, and wasn't it in the shinobi rules to rid any emotions? To be more exact, **Shinobi rule** **#25**: Do not show emotion under any circumstance.

I bet you're all curious as to what that fear is. Well, it's simple. He was afraid of losing someone important. After all he had been through, it wasn't a big surprise. He had already lost all of his family to his brother who he had once loved. Some might suspect that his fear would be of his brother, but it was quite the opposite. He couldn't **wait** to see that murderer once again, just to kill him personally for what he had done.

Naruto was afraid of a low stock of ramen – nothing else seemed to bother him more and Sasuke didn't know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing - and Sakura seemed to have a case of autophobia. She had stated that if he had left the village that night, she would feel alone, didn't she? He might be able to share his female teammate's fear at one point in his life, but definitely couldn't relate to his male teammate's phobia. Autophobia : A fear of being alone. Loneliness was something he had grown accustomed to though. He had to. That's why, by leaving, he had been doing a favour for his female teammate.

So how, you ask did he leave the village and betray all those that were important to him help his female teammate? Well, I guess you can say, you have to face your fears sometime. He had learned to face his too, killing two birds with one stone. By abandoning all his loved ones, he had also abandoned his fear.

Because - after all - everyone had their own phobias.


	8. Time

The clock was ticking. 

Slower now-

Slower.

It was mocking her, she could tell.

She had never been one to waste time doing the mindless pacing she was doing now, but it seemed that right now, time seemed to be standing still. The only time she had **wanted** time to fly by, it slowed down. They say that 'time flies when you're having fun', but what she was doing was **anything** but fun.

Yes, Father Time was definitely mocking her.

Naruto, Neji, Shikamaru and Chouji had left to find Sasuke and so far, no news had come to her about their progress. Lee had surprisingly disappeared as well.

...And another minute had passed.

The suspense was unbearable. She had tried everything to keep herself preoccupied. Shopping with Ino, training, she even went through all her old books, but nothing seemed to keep her mind off of the recent events.

Two minutes now.

She busied herself with work. Any type of work at all. After that, she moved onto cleaning until everything was so shiny it pinged like Gai and Lee's teeth. Soon, she had lost track of time completely, though to her it seemed as if an eternity had passed by. She glanced at the clock hanging on the wall.

Only 2 hours had passed.

She groaned in frustration. What had she ever done to deserve such cruel punishment? She was definitely patient enough. You had to be if you were Naruto's teammate and Kakashi was your sensei. The masked man was **always** late and her blond teammate was just a little...slow. That was what had made up their team. Team 7. Including the one that was now being chased after. The one she was waiting for to return. She reminisced all past missions with her team and slowly drifted off to sleep.

She was awakened by a knock on her door. She opened it revealing a Konoha nin informing her of the retrieval team's return.

It had been an unsuccessful mission.

She paid a visit to a wounded Naruto, letting another 20 minutes of her life go by. Hiding her disappointment, she walked back to her home and looked back at the clock on the wall...

...and she smashed it.

After venting her anger out on 'time', she calmed because she knew. When Sasuke was ready to come back, he would...

It was only a matter of time.


	9. Past, Present, Future

They were completely different from one another. So different, in fact, that you could say they lived in different dimensions. Different times, and in a way...they did. 

She lived in the past. She loved to remember old times. Reminisce through her childhood, no matter how she'd been teased. It had made her what she was today. She looks back at the girl with the wide forehead and laughs. Going through picture albums were something she did weekly. Maybe because that was when **he** was still there and they were still a team.

The past was when she was genuinely happy.

She couldn't remember it all that well though. It seemed so long ago. She wouldn't let herself forget. Instead of letting go of painful memories, she held on as tight as she could, because the past memories were the only thing she had left of **him** after he had left them behind to complete his goals.

All she could remember were the bad times. She knew there were good times in there somewhere. She just couldn't seem to remember them...and that scared her. It scared her to death to know that no matter how much fun she had, it would all be forgotten and a bad memory would take its place.

She couldn't let go of past regrets, so one can rightfully say, she lived in the past.

He, on the other hand, lived solely for the future. All his goals and ambitions. He lived for that purpose and that purpose only.

He had it all planned out. Kill Itachi, and if he survived, he would start a family. Revive his fallen clan.

He left his village, severed all his ties with people who he had once considered friends...all for those goals and he was going to make sure it all happened.

Nothing would get in the way of his goals. Not even his so-called friends, or Orochimaru himself. If it weren't for getting stronger, he would've tried to get rid of him a long time ago. All his hard work and perseverance, would all be worth it in the end, he thought. Everything would be fine in the end.

He lived for his goals...he lived for the future.

All things aside, no matter what time period their minds were living in and whether they liked it or not...

They were both stuck in the present.


	10. Fish

'There are other fish in the sea.'

That being so, it also implied there were _many_ fish in the sea.

If so, Sasuke had to wonder...why were all these girls swarming around **him**? A whole 'school' of them. What was so special about Sasuke Uchiha? Of course, besides the fact that he was an Uchiha - one of the last two remaining - and his good looks. He didn't consider himself vain, he just had a very high self-esteem, and according to others, a very large ego.

Of course, on another note, he didn't understand what had reeled him closer to _her_. (Pun not intended) If it were true what they said about the many fish in the sea, it must be a pretty small sea (which made no sense, seeing as if it were a small sea, it wouldn't be called a sea, but a pond...or something like that).

Maybe **that** was it...maybe it isn't a sea they were swimming in, but a small lake or pond. That would explain the amount of other fish attracted to him. There weren't many other fish to choose from in a small pond. It would also explain how he had found _her_. Her 'uniqueness' would definitely be something to notice in a small pond. Who else had pink hair or such captivating green eyes? Along with the large forehead, which really wasn't that large in the first place.

This thought made the young avenger ponder the importance of his existence. The importance of their little pond compared to the whole sea of fish.

Thinking more on the subject...who compared humans to fish anyways? Fish were so weak-sounding. Something you cut the heads off of and ate in a sushi roll. Sasuke decided he was definitely not a fish. Maybe he was a fisherman. They were the ones that caught the scaly, aquatic creatures after all.

He had asked her once about it. He told her about the sea and pond theory, along with playing the part of fisherman. She simply brushed a few stray hairs behind her ear and said something that had surprised him.

"Well, Sasuke-kun, of all the fish in the sea...I'm glad you were the fisherman to catch me."

He looked at her, surprised at her words, and soon dropped the subject...

...because it just didn't seem to matter as much anymore.


	11. Resolution

It was that time again and she was in the same place she was last year – on the balcony alone as everyone inside waited to count down the new year. She preferred silence when composing her resolutions, though she didn't know why she bothered. Her new year's resolutions were always the same:

1. Get stronger.

2. Bring back her former teammate/love.

When she really thought about it, those goals were definitely connected. She wanted strength because she wanted to prove everyone wrong. To prove that she wasn't 'weak little Sakura' anymore, but a strong kunoichi who has trained under a legendary sannin.

More importantly, she wanted the strength so that when she got strong enough, she could bring Sasuke back. But not alone. She had help from someone who had promised to bring Sasuke back as well – from Naruto.

This year, she failed to do these things, though everyone **had** noticed the drastic improvement in her fighting. Not to mention, her superhuman strength was definitely not something you wanted to experience firsthand. This year wasn't a good year for the pink-haired kunoichi, but she had a feeling next year would be better.

She jumped off the balcony, landing on the ground. The apartment in which everyone was celebrating was only on the second floor and after jumping tree to tree for such a long time, the second floor was nothing.

She walked, trying to get away from all the bright lights and those selected few that were wandering the streets having had their fill of alcohol even though there were 10 minutes to midnight. Her feet trudged through the small sheet of snow. Her mindless drifting led her to a part of Konoha she hadn't visited for a long while. A red and white fan was painted on the wall in front of her.

She turned around and with her head down, prepared to walk back. But, as soon as she lifted her foot to take the first step, a loud popping noise caused her head to snap upwards; alert.

_Were enemy nins attacking?_

No. Bright and colourful lights answered her silent question. She watched as the fireworks continued – lighting up the houses inside the district she was about to leave seconds ago. It made everything seem lively, not abandoned like it had been moments ago. She smiled.

_Yes, _she thought, _this year will definitely be better._


	12. Paths

Every day, they would go down different paths. After training, missions, ramen with Naruto or any other rare occasions when they'd be together. They would always walk down the same main street and at a small fork off to the side, Sakura would always go down one road and Sasuke, the other. Each path led to their respectable homes, but whilst Sakura daily strolled up and down that cheerful street with that one beautiful cherry blossom tree in the park, Sasuke walked through his dim street and into the lonely Uchiha manor. 

It was ironic, really, that Sasuke would say that he was walking down a different path. A different one from her or Naruto. Or maybe it was coincidental, rather than ironic. Either way, Sakura had found it strangely funny that he had said something so literal and had been unaware of it. Sasuke couldn't have been thinking of that fork in the road when he said it. Could he?

It was this train of thought that brought Sakura to do what she did those days after. A little less then a week after he had left for Sound; down his own 'path', she walked down hers. She walked down her side of the forked road, but did something unusual. When she had reached her residence, she didn't stop. She walked right past the familiar door, moving a bit further down that road. Then as if her legs had a will of their own, she stopped, turned on her heel, and walked back home.

She did this everyday, and with every improvement or accomplishment she'd made after Sasuke left, she walked a little more down that path. Apprenticing under Tsunade? More long strides down the road. Every new jutsu and every triumphant spar helped her walk further along her path.

And she kept doing this until one day, she couldn't see any houses alongside the road. Or any more road in front of her, she noted. She looked around to see where this path had ended and was surprised to find that beside the path that she had previously come from, there was another darker one slightly covered in forest shadows. The path that Sasuke had always walked down.

_So, the two paths meet in the end._

And silently as she turned around and started her long trek back, she hoped that he was walking down his path, too.


	13. February 14th

February 14th.

To Uchiha Sasuke, February 14th meant nothing but a day of bright pink, white and reds. Not to forget – the fan girls. Oh my, how can **anyone** forget the fan girls? They were loud. They were obsessed. And most importantly – they were annoying.

Every Valentine's Day before he left, Sasuke would walk to the bridge to meet his team and find Sakura dressed up for Valentine's day – with the red and white outfit, along with her naturally pink hair. Then, after a minute of quiet contemplation, he would noticed that it was what she wore _everyday_ and that he should know that after being in the same team for so long.

He always found it strange...that girls thought he would change his mind about them because of the date. Especially his teammate, Sakura. She seemed to cling to him even _more_ and it annoyed him to no end. And even though it happened every year, Sasuke was still always surprised when Sakura would back off with a smile on her face when he told her she was annoying.

He never understood it. He still doesn't.

To Haruno Sakura, February 14th meant competition. All of Sasuke's fan girls would bother him to no end and it amused her to watch them try and fail. They would never back off, however, no matter how many times he told them they were annoying, they'd just keep at it. Maybe they thought that Sasuke would be impressed at their perseverance? Yeah, right.

Sakura – though she didn't want 'Sasuke-kun' to hate her – couldn't lose to them. She strove to be noticed, but not to the point that Sasuke would be avoiding her very presence...any more then he was at the time, that is. Sakura knew to call it quits when he called her annoying. That ended the 'competition'.

The rest of the day, she would act naturally, like it were any other day, because the facts were – it was. Sakura knew that she loved Sasuke, no matter what day it was. And she knew that if Sasuke were to like her, he wouldn't care what day it was either.

It was only when Sasuke noticed the unusual quiet during Valentine's Day in Sound and Sakura found nothing to compete over that they figured February 14th wasn't completely meaningless...

Because Valentine's Day always meant each other.


	14. Bullshit

"I can't love you anymore."

Uchiha Sasuke turned to see a determined look on his female teammate's face before closing his eyes and lying back.

"Found a new plaything?" Sasuke asked after a pause.

"No," she said indignantly. She wasn't _that_ shallow.

"I can't stand you!" she yelled, causing the Uchiha to glance in her direction.

"You always call me annoying," she continued. He didn't retort when he realized she wasn't done.

"All you do is train," she started counting faults on her fingers.

"You're anti-social, speak as if your vocabulary is limited to 'Hn' and 'Aa,'" Sakura threw her hands up, frustrated. "Might as well be talking to a wall!"

"You constantly fight with Naruto over stupid things," she rambled, "...ignore all your fan-girls. What are you, **_gay_**?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "What?" he hissed, but Sakura wasn't done.

"I don't think you've ever showed any emotion other than anger! I've heard of emotional constipation, but you're in another league entirely!"

"...Your ego is the size of the moon!"

Not one to take insults lying down, Sasuke sat up and turned to watch the pink-haired kunoichi behind him pace back and forth, thinking up new insults.

"And you never, ever, put down the toilet seat when you come over!" she stopped and turned to face him. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her statement.

"I know it was you!" she shouted, pointing accusingly at him. "Naruto didn't use the washroom last time! Do you **know** how annoying it is to almost _fall into a toilet_?" He watched her rant on about hygiene with an amused smirk.

It dropped at her next statement.

"I mean, how can I even put up with you? I **cannot** be in love with you." Sakura huffed. Her eyes met his to gauge his reaction. She was surprised to see he wasn't angry.

Sasuke simply stared.

"That's complete bullshit."

Sakura looked surprised but soon sighed, dropping her gaze.

"I know."

"Also," Sakura looked at him expectantly.

She almost laughed at his last statement.

"-I'm not gay."


	15. Competition

"You cheated."

"And you let me."

Sakura huffed.

"How was I to know that you would take advantage of my state of dress?!"

"You mean state of undress."

Meanwhile, Naruto was in the background guffawing. It was a seduction mission gone awry and his two teammates took this as an invitation to see who could knock out more enemy-nin. (To prove that Sakura had improved, but Naruto knew this was their strange way of courtship.)

"I say that the last one should **totally** gone to me! **I** was the one who distracted him!"

"Hn. You say that like you expect _me_ to put on a dress and distract them."

At this, Naruto couldn't take it anymore and full out laughed his heart out on the floor. Sasuke glared. Sakura giggled.

"Well, I can tell you one thing, Sasuke-kun. I'm sure many of them would _definitely_ be distracted."

_Ahem_.

"Come come, children. We still have to find that scroll to complete the mission." Kakashi reminded them.

"Well we wouldn't have to if _someone_ didn't lose their temper."

Sakura's eyes squinted angrily at the black-haired male's comment.

"Well, Mr. I-think-I'll-use-Sakura-as-a-distraction-so-I-can-hog-all-the-fighting-action, let's see **you** have a male grope your butt and see how **you** like it!"

Naruto all but died of laughter. Kakashi left to find the scroll by himself, seeing as his squad _obviously_ had some issues to talk over.

"Oh god! The visuals!" the blond managed to choke out between his – what could only be called maniacal – laughter.

"No matter how you word it, I still win with 14 knock-outs whilst you have 13."

"Dammit! I should've won! **That last one was totally mine!**"

"Yet it was _my_ fist that knocked him out."

"**It was thanks to me that the guy was so easy to knock out in the first place!**"

"Sakura."

Said female waited for the black-haired nin's comment, prepared to counter with her own if it was insulting. She watched as a smirk appeared on Sasuke's face.

"Uchiha's_ never_ lose."

"Pft. You just say that to cover up the fact that you were jealous some guy was touching Sakura-chan!" Naruto bellowed.

"Like I said," Sasuke grabbed a surprised (and scantily-clad. Not that Sasuke noticed or anything) Sakura by the wrist and started pulling her off in the direction of Konoha, "Uchiha's **never** lose. At anything."


	16. fine lines

They were always skirting around the subject as if it was a dance. No clear distinction had been made as to what kind of relationship the two had, but everyone who observed them could tell it was neither friendship, nor courtship. And being stuck in the middle of it all, well, that made Naruto confused.

"What the hell is going on between the both of you?"

The two shirked away from the question like the thought of answering had burned them. Naruto grew increasingly aware of their discomfort. A red-faced Sakura looked away on his right, while Sasuke scowled at the waters below the bridge on his left. Naruto chuckled knowingly.

"You two don't know either, do you?"

They stiffened. It was taboo to mention labels around them, especially if one tried to label their relationship. They were more than teammates, not quite friends, and inches short from being lovers. Everyone around when the two were together could cut the confusing and awkward sexual tension in the air with a kunai if they wanted, but they wanted to see where everything would go before one of them snapped.

Sasuke brought her lunches when she worked in the hospital, but never walked her home. Sakura would spend hours in his house: cooking and cleaning, healing him or just talking together, but she would never spend the night. He would offer, but he would never insist.

Naruto brought it upon himself to clear the fog that was surrounding the two. After all, he was the only sane one out of the group, it seemed.

"You know, there are lots of fine lines people walk along in this world," Naruto leaned on the bridge railing, looking down at the reflections of the three of them. He continued when he saw in the water that the other two were paying attention.

"You two seem to be an expert at walking along all of the important ones," he laughed.

"Let me give you two my awesome advice as the Future Hokage:

When the line between life and death grows thin for either of you, would the fear of crossing another little line matter at all?"

Naruto walked away. Looking back, he smiled seeing their little dance had come to a halt.


End file.
